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Monday, May 13, 2013

Book Review: Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

Nantucket Blue

Leila Howland

304 Pages

Published May 7th 2013 by Disney Hyperion

For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.

When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.

Nantucket Blue is a high school love story with so much more behind it. The reader is exposed to grief, angst and many other emotions alongside feelings of young love. The story of Cricket in her first summer on the peaceful island of Nantucket is one I won't soon forget.

Our main character, Cricket, is an almost 18 year old girl who wants many things from her summer. She wants to help out her best friend, Jules, get over the grief of losing her mother. She wants to get away from her terrible babysitting job back home. Most of all, she wants to obtain the gorgeous Jay, a boy she's had a crush on for a long time.

When her opportunity to stay in Nantucket for the summer vanishes, Cricket takes things into her own hands, getting a grueling job at an inn that includes housing so she can stay on the island. While many things don't go quite as she planned, with her best friend being strange and cruel to her, as well as Jay, she ends up having an interesting summer in the end.

From the beginning I knew who she'd end up with, and I must say, even though he was two years younger than her, they worked so well together. The passion and chemistry in Cricket's summer love was strong, perfect for a great summer romance. I love these types of story as summer approaches, they remind me of first kisses and summer romances long gone.

Leila Howland has a real gift with words, painting a tapestry with her plot and characters. I can't wait to read more works by her!